Tiny’ is a very relative term. I mean, though most people I come across comment about my ‘above average’ build, I would be a wimp when standing alongside those wrestling dudes, you know, the guys who jump around in a ring, wearing their undies.Similarly, in the motorcycling world, there are the behemoths. The Valkryie or the Bohmerland (a classic motorcycle of East European origin with the wheelbase of a barge) might even give a blue whale a complex. But where there are giants, there must be dwarfs. And the bikes Kartik and myself rode are definitely midgets.
Nobody really knows what was going through the minds of the blokes at Escorts at the time of designing this bike. Why on earth would someone design a road going motorcycle with dimensions that would make even Tom Thumb point at it, hold his stomach and roll on the floor, laughing? But they did, and with all due thanks to them, we have a little pocket rocket (literally), fondly called the Bobby.The Bobby, as it later came to be known, was introduced by Escorts as the Rajdoot GTS – an over optimistic acronym for ‘Grand Touring Sports’. The Bobby moniker was later added after the little bundle of joy did a little acting stint in the Raj Kapoor movie of the same name. In case your memory is foggy and you want it refreshed, try remembering nice legs, a short skirt and then Dimple Kapadia – in that order!
Before I continue, I am sure that the most ardent of BSM readers are already sharpening their sickles and greasing their guns for a siege on our office. Why? Because good old Shreenand Sadhale had already done a feature on the Rajdoot way back in August 2006. Before you all declare a call to arms, I must hurriedly mention that in this story, we rode this bike – not just one but two of them.
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